Category Archive: 5.) The Economist

What happens to your brain when you fall in love?

00:00 - Love at first sight 00:57 - Love in the long term 01:20 - Love as a necessity What really happens to your brain when you fall in love? We explain the science of attraction. Sign up to The Economist’s Simply Science newsletter: https://econ.st/4cfEtvf More from our Science & technology section: https://econ.st/4dE99az The science of love at first sight: https://econ.st/4dUpsR5 How to keep the brain healthy:...

Read More »

Expelling mistake: the costs of hardline immigration policy

The rich world is experiencing record migrant flows (https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2024/07/21/the-rich-world-revolts-against-sky-high-immigration?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners)—and the attendant social upheaval. Finding immigration policies that are not economically ruinous is damnably...

Read More »

Arrivals haul: anti-tourism’s folly

Tourists are getting decidedly less-warm welcomes in popular spots, but blunt anti-tourism policies are self-defeating. We look at how to maintain benefits (https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/08/01/how-to-make-tourism-work-for-locals-and-visitors-alike?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners) for both the...

Read More »

Walz onto the stage: Kamala Harris’s VP pick

Tim Walz, a folksy Midwesterner who came late to politics, is on the Democratic ticket. We ask how he got there (https://www.economist.com/united-states/2024/08/06/why-kamala-harris-picked-tim-walz-as-her-running-mate?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners) and whether he was the best tactical pick. A visit to...

Read More »

More than Sheikh could stick at: Bangladesh’s PM resigns

Sheikh Hasina, who led the country for 20 of the past 28 years with an increasingly authoritarian grip, was ultimately undone (https://www.economist.com/asia/2024/08/05/bangladeshs-dictator-flees-leaving-behind-a-dangerous-vacuum?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners) by student protests that would not be...

Read More »

Enter staged right: misinformation feeds Britain’s riots

Unrest across the country has been driven in part by the provably false claims of right-wing provocateurs. We examine the real concerns underlying the violence, and how to end it swiftly...

Read More »

Tense exchange: Russia’s prisoner swap

The biggest exchange of prisoners (https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/08/01/the-deal-that-freed-evan-gershkovich-was-not-just-a-prisoner-swap?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners) between Russia and the West since the Cold War included opposition leaders, journalists and prisoners of conscience. Our...

Read More »

Could this Palestinian end the conflict with Israel?

00:00 - The world’s most important prisoner 00:12 - Barghouti’s beginnings 01:10 - The Oslo Accords and diplomacy 02:04 - Political rise 03:20 - Imprisonment and Palestinian politics 04:18 - Barghouti’s influence today Marwan Barghouti is the only Palestinian who could help end the conflict with Israel. But he’s been in prison for over 20 years. Sign up to The Economist’s daily newsletter: https://econ.st/3QAawvI More from our Middle East...

Read More »

Yuan direction: Chinese firms head south

As domestic demand in China slows, and the West puts up trade and political barriers, Chinese firms are shifting (https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/08/01/chinese-companies-are-winning-the-global-south?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners) their focus to poorer parts of the world. After Russian attacks on...

Read More »

Struck out: A Hamas leader is assassinated

After the killing of Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh, what are the prospects for ceasefire talks in the region? In Venezuela Nicolas Maduro has declared victory...

Read More »

Down to the wires: Africa’s digital lag

The dearth of fixed-line infrastructure that allowed the continent to leapfrog into the mobile-phone age now holds it back. We ask how to ensure (https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/07/25/how-to-ensure-africa-is-not-left-behind-by-the-ai-revolution?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners) the even spread of...

Read More »

Warpath: Israel vows revenge on Hizbullah

After an airstrike killed 12 children in Israel-controlled territory (https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2024/07/28/israeli-retaliation-in-lebanon-seems-inevitable?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners) at the weekend, retaliation in Lebanon seems inevitable. The end result could be a war on...

Read More »

Field of streams: sports viewing changes

As the Olympics begin, more people than ever will be watching via streaming services. We examine the changing viewing habits transforming (https://www.economist.com/briefing/2024/07/25/a-shift-in-the-media-business-is-changing-what-it-is-to-be-a-sports-fan?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners) sport’s role in...

Read More »

Bibi talk: a speech light on detail

Anyone hoping to glean hints of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s plans for the Gaza war and its aftermath will have been disappointed: it was a political speech aimed at Israelis. Nigerians spend more than anyone on food, as a fraction of income. We look at the factors making the squeeze even tighter...

Read More »

Destruction instruction: Western armies learn from Gaza

From tunnels to tanks to drones, Gaza’s horrors provide object lessons in urban warfare. We ask what Western forces will be learning (https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2024/07/18/to-see-the-future-of-urban-warfare-look-at-gaza?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners) about their own future...

Read More »

Is Putin running out of soldiers?

The Russian army is suffering its highest casualties since it invaded Ukraine. Is Putin running out of soldiers to keep his war going? #warinukraine #zelensky #putin Sign up to The Economist’s defence newsletter: https://econ.st/3QAawvI How many Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine? https://econ.st/3zRgeGm Russia’s vast stocks of Soviet-era weaponry are running out https://econ.st/4cROYWG Vadym Sukharevsky, the man in charge of...

Read More »

Keep Kamala and carry on: Harris’s smooth route

A day is a long time in American politics: Kamala Harris has reportedly already secured the votes to become Democrats’ presidential nominee, a pile of campaign cash and the Trump campaign’s attention...

Read More »

Joe of good faith: Biden bows out

Joe Biden has at last succumbed to the pressure (https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/07/21/joe-biden-has-given-democrats-a-second-chance-to-win-the-white-house?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners) to step aside and has endorsed his vice-president, Kamala Harris. We ask how things should progress from this...

Read More »

Dicky birds: the next pandemic?

The scars of the covid pandemic are still raw, but now a virus spreading (https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2024/07/17/h5n1-avian-flu-could-cause-a-human-pandemic?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners) among farm animals could leap to humans. Could bird flu become the next pandemic? White women...

Read More »

Veep show: America meets J.D. Vance

J.D. Vance was largely unknown in American politics until Donald Trump picked him (https://www.economist.com/united-states/2024/07/16/jd-vance-is-now-the-heir-apparent-to-the-maga-movement?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners) as his running-mate for vice-president. Last night he gave his first speech to the...

Read More »